Illegal Immigration and Poverty
This is the fourth in a series of posts over the course of 24 hours looking at poverty in Austin as part of Blog Action Day 2008.
Illegal immigration is directly related and connected to global poverty.
Period.
I don't have time to write a note that does this issue justice, but CNN has a story today about a Catholic priest who is putting his money and his mouth in service to this issue.
My wife used to work at Casa Juan Diego in Houston, a house that assisted undocumented individuals—while I was working there for a few days, there were protesters who told me how un-American I was by helping out these folks.
Near Austin, Taylor, TX was in the news regarding a former prison facility that was "converted" into the T. Don Hutto Immigration Detention Center. While the private facility is not very friendly to the media, it claims to house non-Mexican families on non-criminal immigration violations while they await hearings. The talking heads say that it is a family environment and does not feel like a jail or prison. But, how many prisons can be converted into family-friendly housing?